Hooked
by ohmymari
Summary: "Remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory." Will be rated M. HM/CD. Cedric!Lives. AU. Post-Hogwarts.
1. Prologue

Prologue

"_Reducto!"_

The panic that had been welling up inside of Cedric ceased momentarily as he felt the roots around his legs and arms loosen their hold. He had been sure that Harry was going to leave him to get dragged God knows where among the hedges. Just as he probably would have done had it been Harry in the same position.

But Potter was the Golden Boy for a reason and his more noble side had taken over, thankfully for Cedric.

There was an awkward air between the two of them as Cedric stood up, massaging his wrists. He was sure that he would look like a patchwork quilt in the morning with all the bruises that were going to be decorating his body.

Harry shuffled a little bit beside him, and Cedric tried to clear his throat to relieve the tension. "Thanks." He said simply.

"You're welcome." The exchange hung weirdly in the space between them.

Cedric couldn't help the next thought from slipping out of his mouth, which was something the deep thinking boy usually didn't do. "You know, for a moment there, I thought that you were going to let it get me."

"For a moment there, so did I." Cedric couldn't help but respect the younger boy for his honesty. They both knew that the maze did have a way of changing both of them. Cedric had almost hexed Harry, a boy three years younger than him, and Harry had nearly left Cedric to die.

"Some game, huh?" Cedric asked. It occrued to him what an understatement this was.

"Yeah. Some game," Harry replied, but Cedric noticed him barely listening. The winds were beginning to shift around them, the hedges bristling with it.

"Come on then!" Cedric yelled. "Run!"

And they did. The sprinted down the pathway towards the shining glow of the Triwizard Cup, this time running together instead of against each other. Cedric's lungs burned with the effort of it, feeling as if he was being chased by all the demons that had come up in the maze. His feet pounded along almost as fast as his heart was beating.

He stumbled and nearly fell over in relief as they made it into the clearing just as the hedges sewed themselves shut behind them. Harry was beside him, hands on his knees, sweat on his forehead, breathing just as heavily.

The cup cast a pale blue glow over both of them. It was enchanting and they drew towards it together.

Cedric knew that he could get there faster. His legs were longer, his arms were longer, he could grab it before Harry ever had the chance and seal his fate as a Triwizard Champion. Part of him wanted so badly to do it, but he knew after his performance in the maze that he didn't deserve it. The more humble Hufflepuff half of him outranked the part that yearned for eternal glory. He was not acting as someone who deserved to be champion when he almost killed Krum for attacking him. Or when he shoved Harry out of the way, malice in his heart. He certainly knew he wouldn't have stopped to help Harry out as Harry had him.

Harry deserved the cup, and so Cedric walked slower to the cup than he had to, letting Harry reach it first.

"You take it," he said simply to Harry, even though the greedy half of him was nearly screaming in protest. "You saved my life, you deserve it."

"No," Harry said, shaking his head. Cedric wondered if there was truly a bad bone in the boy's entire body. "You take it. You're the champion Hogwarts wants. Not me."

Cedric shook his head, clearing it, as the greedy voice became even louder shouting _Eternal Glory! _over and over and over. "You take it! You earned it, I haven't!"

Harry chewed on his lip, he seemed to be seriously contemplating the thought in his head. "We'll take it together. That way we'll both be champion, and it will be a joint win for Hogwarts."

Hope sparked in Cedric's chest. Why didn't he think of that? That satisfied both voices in his head. "Are you sure?"

"Definitely. Together."

Harry and Cedric's eyes locked in mutual camaraderie as Harry counted off, "One, two, three-"

And they both grasped the cup handle at the same time. Pride flared in Cedric as he imagined his father's face as he brought back the cup and the glory. At first, he thought pride might have been causing the strange sensation in his stomach as he felt as if a hook was pulling his navel. Then, they vanished.

* * *

Cedric landed painfully on his right arm. He swore he heard the wrist snap and groaned aloud as he gingerly rolled over onto his back. He heard Harry moan softly beside him, probably having landed just as hard on the dry earth.

Cedric lay just a few seconds before shakily standing up. He took in his surroundings, squinting, as the only light was coming from the moon.

"Where are we?" He asked Harry, who was looking around, looking slightly nauseous. "Is this some part of the task still? I thought it was over."

He began to slowly walk around, noticing what looked like graves everywhere. He noticed what looked like a grim reaper statue sitting in the middle of what he now assumed to be a cemetery. Confused, he paced over towards the Triwizard Cup which was throwing an eerie blue haze over a few graves.

He knelt to look at it, wonder in his eyes. "It's a portkey!" He said in amazement. The simplicity of it all. Obviously someone was going to have grabbed the cup. The only question was, why? He got back up, trying to see if there was anyone else in the graveyard, perhaps another challenge to truly finish off the task. Maybe the cup sensed there were two winners and this was some sort of tie breaker.

He noticed a movement from inside one of the mausoleums. A wave of anxiousness tore through him just as Harry mumbled "I've been here before…"

Cedric was split between going back to Harry and investigating the sound. Choosing to go after the more imminent threat, just in case it could harm the younger boy, he noticed a large cauldron sitting near the Grim Reaper, and that there was a shadow coming out of the mausoleum.

Harry suddenly cried "Cedric! We need to get out of here, get back to the cup!"

But it was too late, a hunched figure carrying what looked to be a baby made its way into the clearing. Cedric felt sheer terror in seeing the baby. For some reason, he could sense horrible dark magic coming from the bundle and he turned, trying to run back to Harry, to shield him as he had failed to do originally during the task.

But then the bundled hissed in a horrible voice, "_Kill the spare." _Instinctively, Cedric began to run, trying to dive behind a gravestone to get away from the horrible chills that ran up his spine, causing the hairs to stand at attention.

Then a shout of "Aveda Kadavera!" and a flash of green light.

The last thing Cedric remembered was a large bang and the horrified look on Harry's face as he crumpled to the ground.

* * *

When he awoke, he had trouble focusing. How was it that he came to be lying in a graveyard in the dark? His head was killing him. Scratch that, his entire body felt like he'd just lost a fight with a temperamental blast-ended skrewt. Instinct told him not to get up and search for clues, as he somehow knew there was a pressing danger around him.

Cautiously, he opened his eyes, trying very hard not to make any sudden movements. He noticed pieces of what looked like a crumbled gravestone around him. Later, when he (and others) looked back at this incident, he would give credit for his life to the fact that Peter Pettigrew had been too nervous to aim correctly and had hit the gravestone and only small fractions of the curse had even hit him, just causing a brief blackout.

He strained his ears, trying to hear what was going on. He could hear shouts of spells and what sounded like jeering from a rather sizeable group of people somewhere ahead of him. Cautiously, he half-rolled over, trying to find the source of what the sound was.

He almost jumped backwards at the scene before him. A number of tall figures in black robes seemed to be supplying the shouts as they circled around two dueling wizards in between them. Harry was there, looking exceptionally worn, blood dripping from one of his arms. His oppose was someone Cedric had never seen before, but his blood chilled just by glancing at him peripherally.

The tall figure's eyes were dark and empty, his nostrils like slits. The skin stretched over his body in a way that suggested it wanted to be as far away from him as possible, giving him an inhuman look.

Evil emanated from him, and the cold sneer on his face as he regarded Harry was enough to make a grown man weep in horror. Cedric had never seen this man before, but something told him that it was Lord Voldemort.

What drew his attention more than anything, however, was the connection between the wands that both Harry and Voldemort were holding. A green and yellow light seemed to be connected, making both wants shake violently in their wielders' hands.

The look in Harry's eyes revealed how young and inexperienced the boy was, despite the fame he had achieved in his short life. Cedric's heart ached for the boy who had been thrown into a life that he had no control over. Nothing could have prepared him for the position he was in now.

It was the hopelessness that Harry seemed to be experiencing that made Cedric get to his feet, throwing caution to the wind. Without giving thought to what was really going on, he found himself sprinting the short distance towards the middle of the graveyard. Something told him that if the green light of Voldemort's wand reached Harry's, it would all be over for the younger boy. Cedric's noble side took over. He couldn't let that happen. Not to his fellow champion, who didn't deserve the bad things in his life.

The surrounding figures didn't have time to react, and Voldemort barely had time to shout out in fury before Cedric flung himself directly where the two spells seemed to be intertwined.

There was another bright flash of light as Cedric intercepted both spells for a brief second before the power of the combined wands threw him away. His mouth opened in a soundless shriek as an excruciating pain tore through him, and he found himself being propelled through the air.

That was when the out of body experience started for Cedric. He found himself being flung from his flesh, and watched it crumple to the ground, eyes wide open, like a ragdoll. He knew he was dead, then. How else could he explain what was going on? It was as if someone had snipped a cord that allowed him to remain clothed in his body.

Dismay filled his soul as he saw that his sacrifice had been in vain. The wands remained connected. He had failed. It had been for nothing. What would his parents do without him?

Ghostly figures began to emerge from the Voldemort's wand. Cedric was drawn towards them, and although he recognized none of them, one seemed to bear a striking resemblance to Harry. They seemed to be conversing with the boy, and when Harry turned his eyes to Cedric, it was as if he could see the ghosts, too.

Cedric decided to take this chance. "Take my body back to my parents, Harry." He said. "They will want to know what happened."

One of the figures, the one who looked like Harry yelled, "NOW!" And the four figures bombarded Voldemort, which finally caused the connection to break. Cedric tried to join them, but he felt as if a rope was suddenly pulling at his spirit, and he slammed hard back into his body, shortly before everything went black again.

* * *

The darkness broke and Cedric was screaming. He obviously wasn't dead, because he could feel every inch of his flesh, screaming in protest from the pain that seemed to be attacking his limbs. He knew his eyes were open, but he couldn't make sense of any of the images because of the implosion that seemed to be going on behind his eyes.

He could faintly register sounds, but everything seemed so far away. He felt hands prodding at him, someone was sobbing not very far away from him, and a voice yelling, "Let me through! That's my boy! My boy!"

But the loudest sound he could hear was in the sound of the voice in his own ears. Somewhere, he knew that he would be horrified to know that he, the perfectly put together Golden Boy, was now weeping like a baby in front of people. But he couldn't bring himself to care. Whatever proper part of him that may have existed before was evaporating. He was being burnt alive, at the same time as being frozen to death. It would have been better to be dead. He felt someone lay a hand on his shoulder, and he turned his head towards them, and begged them silently to just kill him.

He heard his father pleading to someone, "Please, do something for him..." And then a soft spell was whispered. Everything went black again, but there was no relief. Just pain. Unending pain.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1- _Ten Years Later_

"It's really great that you're coming today, 'Mione."

Harry leaned against the armoire that her mother had given her, as Hermione gazed in the mirror perched on top, securing the backs on her delicate pearl earrings. She focused on the task for a second, before responding to Harry, uncertain of what to say.

She evaluated her reflection in the silence. Her bushy hair was pulled back into a rather messy, but stylish bun, and she wore the minimal amount of makeup necessary to look proper. She felt strange in the black dress that was draped over her body. She hadn't worn black since graduating Hogwarts and beginning her career as a Mediwitch.

Figuring she might as well put a lip color on, she grabbed a tube and opened it. She hadn't meant to ignore Harry's earlier comment but now the silence had stretched long enough to the point where he probably thought that she had.

He came around to stand closer to her, so she could see his reflection in the mirror as well as her own. He laid a hand on her shoulder, reaching forward to tuck a loose curl back behind her ear.

"You know that Ron is going to appreciate that you're there, right?"

Hermione sighed, putting the tube of lipstick down. She turned away from the mirror to face Harry, resting her head against his shoulder. Having Harry there always calmed her nerves a little bit. Spending their entire seventh year looking for Horcruxes had brought them together in a way that nobody outside their circle of friends could really understand.

"I try to keep telling myself that, but I just feel like it's not my place to come. We haven't talked in almost a year. I'm the 'ex-girlfriend.' And Heidi never liked me, and you know that."

Harry patted her back, comforting her in the only way that Harry knew how. Even after being friends with Hermione for years, he still had trouble knowing exactly how to deal with the more emotional part of being best friends with a girl. He didn't understand the petty jealousy that happened between ex-flames and current ones. He didn't understand why Hermione felt like she was the wrong one in the situation for having tried to remain friends with one of her exes. It didn't make any sense why when a friend was suffering, you didn't go to his side, regardless of what your history was and how long it had been since the two of you had talked.

He frowned slightly, his eyes sad behind his wire frames. "I know, 'Mione. But Heidi isn't around anymore. And Ron is. And he needs us more than ever. That includes you. The 'Golden Duo' doesn't have quite the same ring to it as 'Golden Trio' does."

Hermione let out a small snort at the name that _The Daily Prophet _had nicknamed them after the war. As for the matter at hand today, she had to go. But the impending confrontation with Ron wasn't going to be easy on them, she knew.

Heidi had always only barely tolerated the fact that she and Ron had remained friends after their breakup. But after Heidi had thrown a massive fit over the fact that Hermione had been assigned her Healer, she hadn't seen the freckled red head that had grown to be such an integral part of her life during Hogwarts years. He knew better than to pick sides between the two of them. In the fight between Heidi and Hermione, the new would always win over the old. She didn't blame Ron for it. She knew she would have done the same thing in his place.

But she put that aside for now and shrugged on her black dress robes, completing the look. She turned back to Harry.

"Do I look ready?" She did a three sixty so he could make sure she didn't have anything tucked where it shouldn't be, or left over makeup somewhere she couldn't see.

Harry's face was somber as he appraised her, and then gave her a nod. "As ready as one could ever be for a funeral."

* * *

Anxiety turned in Hermione's stomach as Harry lay a hand on the small of her back, guiding her towards the front of the crowded room. There were so many people there! She felt as if she was on display, too, although she knew it was just her own insecurities being reflected. It was as if people knew that the woman who was being mourned today would have personally saw Hermione out the door should she have noticed she was there.

She glanced among the crowd, seeing if she recognized anybody. As expected, there were a large number of Quidditch players there to pay their respects. Heidi was a Chaser on the Puddlemere United team. And although she hadn't been able to play the past season, team loyalty still remained strong and Hermione noticed a few that she had seen in the halls of St. Mungo's on more than one occasion, there to visit their fallen teammate.

She noticed a couple of people that she knew as well, classmates and co-workers and such, but she mostly just stuck to Harry's side besides murmuring a polite 'hello' or two where needed.

She felt a cold sweat break out on her brow as they entered the line approaching the casket. One would think after the war, Hermione would have been fearless. But somehow it was easier for her to be strong around people she knew were evil rather than those that she loved. She had never been able to stomach the stress that went along with it very well. She turned towards Harry for support, trepidation curling in her stomach.

"I shouldn't have come. Heidi wouldn't have liked it." She sounded as nervous as she felt. She focused on not throwing up on the sea of black in front of her.

Harry grabbed one of her trembling hands and gave it a friendly squeeze of reassurance. "You're being ridiculous Hermione."

She knew he was serious, as he rarely ever used her full name otherwise. "Heidi loved Ron enough that, no matter what her feelings were towards you, she would have wanted you to be able to be there for him now that she's gone."

Hermione nodded, feeling just a little bit better. But due to the fiery possessiveness that Ron's late fiancé had shown towards Hermione before she died, she wasn't so sure that was true.

As one usually does at a funeral, she found herself thinking back to the last time she had seen Heidi Maccavoy, only months before she had finally lost in the fight for her life.

_Hermione knew that she shouldn't have stopped by the Maccavoy room. The last time she had been in here, the Chaser had made it perfectly clear that she didn't want Hermione working on her case. But something made her stop by that day, if nothing else because she did still find herself thinking of Ron from time to time, wondering how he was doing. And she knew that Ron worked on Thursdays, so there was no chance of running into him and setting Heidi off again._

_She knocked softly on the door before she entered, glad she had thought to bring a vial of Pain Numbing Potion before she had come, as to look as if she actually had something to do._

_Heidi sat looking out of the window that was located in each sick room in St. Mungo's. The windows were magically enchanted to show whatever the patient wanted to be seeing at the time, to lessen the homesickness and solitude that some more long-term patients dealt with. Heidi's looked out over gentle rolling hills and meadows, and Hermione immediately recognized it as the view you could see when looking out of the kitchen window in the Burrow._

_The other woman had turned to look at her then, and Hermione's throat had caught in her chest. It was almost physically painful for her to see the woman that sat in the bed now, as opposed to the blonde, vivacious woman who was admitted almost a year ago. The woman sitting in the bed was totally different. _

_Hermione had a lot of interaction with people afflicted to cancer. Being that it was a disease that targeted humans, and made no exception for whether they were wizard or Muggle, she had felt that her skills as a Muggle-born Mediwitch were best used in a small group researching cures to cancer. Wizards had no more idea than Muggles of how to stop the disease, and the treatments between the two worlds were decently similar, except that wizards had medication that could numb the pain and seemed to stretch life-expectancy a little bit longer. In Heidi's case, with extensive stage small cell lung cancer, she only should have had a few months to live, but had managed to tack on a few more due to St. Mungo's medicine._

_But in the end, there was no cure and there was nothing anybody could do but sit and watch as Heidi slowly lost battle after battle for her life with the cancer. First, her weight dropped. Then, her hair. Finally, there had been scares. Hermione had heard they had to call her family in twice for false alarms._

_Heidi's eyes looked huge in her face from her weight loss as they scanned Hermione. She didn't look particularly surprised to see Hermione. Just exhausted._

"_I-I brought you a Pain Potion," Hermione said lamely, dropping the woman's gaze as she became uncomfortable. "I just wanted to see how you were doing."_

_Heidi gazed at her a minute longer before speaking. "I was wondering when you were going to come. I figured you would eventually." Her voice was raspy and thin, and it seemed as if the two sentences left her completely out of breath._

_Hermione was puzzled. Why had Heidi expected her to come? "I'm sorry," she said to the floor, finding it hard to look at the other woman, despite the fact that she interacted with cancer-patients all day long. "I know that I shouldn't have come, I just… I had to…"_

_Hermione saw something in the other woman's eyes when she dared to look up again. She tried to name the emotions that past; sadness, anger, envy, pain, but also understanding._

"_I know what the end of this is going to be, Hermione, I'm not idiotic."_

_Hermione winced. To talk to someone who had come to terms with his or her own mortality often proved to be tricky. No one wanted to have to be faced with the fact that someday, they simply would not be there anymore. So she didn't say anything, trying to fight down the urge to just run from the room._

"_You can't replace me, Hermione." _

_Hermione's eyes snapped up, and all that she saw this time was the uncontrollable rage that Heidi was feeling, but was too weak to do anything about. She knew in that sentence, a claim had been staked and she was making it clear to Hermione that Ron would always be _hers _whether she was there or not. She knew all this even though only a simple statement was uttered._

"_I would never-" she tried to say, but was interrupted._

"_You couldn't if you tried. You aren't me, and I'm what Ron wants. You can't replace me." _

_A lot of Heidi's character could be deduced from those sentences, Hermione found herself thinking. She was possessive, crazy about Ron, and didn't want Hermione to have him. But she never felt as if Heidi had thought that Hermione was under her in general, just not as suitable to be with Ron. This was something that Hermione had appreciated slightly. She had never try to make Hermione feel bad about herself, just made it clear of what was hers, and what wasn't._

"_I know, Heidi," she reached out and tentatively patted the other witch's shoulder, trying to convey all the grief and sorrow she felt over the situation to her. There was no pity from her. Hermione had long since figured out that the last thing most people wanted was pity, and she hoped that Heidi didn't think that was why she had visited. _

"_Just go." Heidi had said softly, her voice breaking with a sob. All the feelings of pent up frustration and rage, and needing to be strong for other people had began to break in that moment and tears slipped down her face. Tears for the life she knew she was going to lose. For the love that she had never been able to see out. For everything she would miss out on._

_Hermione was torn between comforting her, and leaving. But she knew that Heidi had meant it when she had told her to go, so she decided to leave despite the more maternal instincts in Hermione that screamed at her to stay._

_As she began to leave the room, Heidi suddenly called out, "Don't let him forget about me!"_

_Hermione turned, and in that moment she knew that Heidi was giving her permission to reconnect with Ron. She felt a tear run down her own face, as she knew what that had probably meant for Heidi to allow the admission._

"_I won't," she promised. And then she had left the room._

Not that it made it any easier for her to be here now. Understanding or not, Hermione still wasn't convinced that Heidi liked her at all. More like, in her last moments, she had wanted to feel like she could control whether or not Hermione would be friends with Ron, rather than the two of them going against her wishes.

The line moved steadily, and eventually, Harry and Hermione reached the front of it, where Ron Weasley stood, along side the Maccavoys. His eyes were rimmed red, and he looked pale, but he looked as if he was honestly trying to interact with everyone that was there. As if he was thoroughly enjoying every story that was shared with him, trying to take in every moment that he could about his fiancé's life, even after their time together was up.

When he saw Harry and Hermione, he smiled, and it was a real smile. Hermione was in amazement at how much Ron seemed to have grown up since last she had seen him. He walked towards them, not straying too far from Heidi's parents.

She stood awkwardly, halfway behind Harry, still not really knowing what to expect despite the smile. But all the worrying and fears had been in vain. Ron gave Harry a firm handshake and then turned to Hermione, giving her a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

He stepped back, misty-eyed, clearly moved by the two of them being there. "Thank you so much for being here, guys." He said, and Hermione didn't even comment on the fact that he had addressed her as a male. "I'm glad I have the best friends in the world to have my back when things get rough."

"Of course, mate. We're the Golden Trio. Nothing can split us apart." Harry elbowed Hermione softly in the ribs, and she felt silly at ever having considered not coming. She was usually loyal to a fault. It seemed silly to let something so silly come between them.

"I didn't know if Heidi would have wanted me to come," she admitted guiltily, shuffling her feet a little bit. "I know she didn't love me being around."

Ron chuckled, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Nah, she would have wanted you to be here if nothing else than to see how many people loved her. She would have felt as if she were proving a point."

Hermione smiled, knowing this was probably true. And there were a rather large amount of people milling about, she was truly impressed by the number that had shown up. "Well, and she probably would have wanted me to hear whatever speech you'll give during the eulogies, I suspect."

Ron snorted, but his cheeks turned red. He hated being the center of attention. "You're probably right."

He turned to look over his shoulder, back at the line, and at his fiancé's parents, and then turned back to his friends. "I should probably get back to greeting people. We can meet up after though, you know… if you want to."

Harry clapped Ron on the shoulder, firmly, his hand staying there a moment longer for comfort. Classic Harry. "Whatever you need, mate. Just let us know. Ginny said she'd come by later, but then she's going to watch Jamie and Albus tonight, so I'm free as it is."

Ron smiled. "I appreciate that. I expect I'll see you after then." And with a pointed look at Hermione, letting her know that she was expected to be there as well, he returned to Heidi's family.

After that, Hermione relaxed considerably. Now that there was no more confrontation with Ron to worry about, she followed Harry around, talking to a number of schoolmates, admirers, and various others.

They were chatting with Hannah Abbott, a housemate of Heidi's, when she noticed a tall figure slip through the doors, as if he didn't want to be noticed.

Hermione nudged Harry, pointing. "Is that Cedric Diggory?"

Harry's gaze followed hers and he nodded almost imperceptibly. Hermione knew that he was remembering the night of the Third Task, the graveyard, and everything that happened afterward.

In fact, nobody really knew what had happened to Cedric after the fight with Voldemort in the graveyard. Harry had been quick to tell his friends that Cedric had stepped in between his and Voldemort's wands had engaged in _priori incantatum_ and that he had thought Cedric to be killed by the blast. But upon returning, Cedric was very much alive and had screamed his throat raw until Madam Pomfrey had finally spelled him to sleep.

After that, he had been immediately moved to St. Mungo's, and although Harry had tried hard to contact him afterwards, nobody ever figured out exactly what had happened while Cedric was in the hospital.

All that the general public knew, is that Cedric Diggory had come out of the maze a changed man. Having only been a sixth year during the tournament, he had come back to Hogwarts for his seventh year. But the formerly popular and charismatic Hufflepuff had kept to himself the entire year. He had spurned his old friends, his girlfriend, and there were whispers that he burned letters that his family sent him rather than reply to them.

He snapped at first years in the hallway, never answered in class any longer, and Cho Chang had been seen running from the Great Hall in tears the day the first day of term when he publicly broke up with her at breakfast.

He had thrown himself into the Quidditch season. It seemed to be the only thing he cared about. As Captain, he gained the reputation to being outright nasty to his players, valuing a win above anything else. That drive had pushed Hufflepuff to their first House Cup win in years, but it had left all of them with a sour taste in their mouth towards him.

Hogwart's Perfect Champion had vanished, whatever part of him that had gone into the maze had died in there. And although Voldemort hadn't physically taken his life, it seemed that whatever had happened had turned him into another victim.

Harry had tried desperately to reconnect with Cedric that year, feeling as though they had a bond that no one else could understand, but Cedric turned him away along with everyone else, though perhaps with more vehemence. Although he publicly stood behind Harry's claims that Voldemort was back, he seemed to have no interest in becoming an actual team with the younger Gryffindor. His lack of interest seemed to border on contempt, in fact.

Rumors had it that Cedric had failed every single one of his NEWTs, simply because he didn't even bother to show up for them. But it didn't matter, because in the end, a number of Quidditch teams had taken notice of his talents as a Seeker, and he was signed as Reserve Chaser for Puddlemere United before he even left school.

And he had left quite a field of rumors in his wake, even after school. The popular opinion seemed to be that Cedric Diggory was quite the playboy and partier and didn't care whom he hurt to get what he wanted.

Now, Hermione and Harry both watched as the Seeker crossed the room towards the casket, seeming to want to pay his respects.

Harry grunted in distaste and looked away. Hermione patted his shoulder, knowing that Harry still had a small grudge towards Cedric for completely ignoring him during their Fifth Year. He turned back into the conversation with Hannah, who had seemed to miss that Cedric Diggory had entered the building.

A short while later, after Harry had left her side when Ginny arrived, Hermione noticed Cedric standing a little bit away from everyone, staring hard at the casket that contained Heidi Maccavoy.

She was taken aback a little bit at the intense look on his face. She had seen that look many times, when dealing with chronic cancer patients. It was one of the first expressions one made when faced with death. It was face the patient made when they were told they were going to die for the first time, and didn't want to accept it.

Cedric Diggory had denial written all over his handsome face. But denial at what? Hermione had no idea.

She began musing, but was interrupted as Harry returned with Ginny, and Heidi's mother, a tall blonde who had remained pretty despite the years, stepped onto a small platform to begin the eulogies. She talked about her favorite moments with Heidi, and then afterwards, Heidi's father had a turn, and then her younger sister, Johanna.

When it was finally Ron's turn, he stepped awkwardly onto the stage, obviously uncomfortable with all the attention he was getting.

"Hi, I'm erm- Ron Weasley. Heidi's fiancé." He cleared his throat, as he looked around, red all the way to the top of his ears. Hermione's hear went out to him. Public speaking had never been his strong suit.

But he continued on anyway. "You know, the first time Heidi and I met, I knew she was a handful. I met her after a Quidditch match. It was the opening match between Puddlemere and the Cannons. She spotted me after the game. Told me that I hurt her eyes, and that I would look much better in a navy Puddlemere United jersey than the orange one I was wearing."

There were a few chuckles throughout the crowd from Heidi's teammates. But Ron was past hearing them. His eyes had a far away look, and Hermione knew that he was caught up in the memories.

"When I asked her to marry me, she told me that she only would if I wore navy robes at our wedding-" He choked a little on the word, but cleared his throat again, roughly and went on.

"You know, the last time I saw Heidi, I knew that I didn't have anymore time with her. And I couldn't stop crying. I know, that's not manly, huh? But she just wiped my eyes. She did. I should have been strong for her, but she was still being strong for me. And she told me, "Ron, I want you to be happy. That's all I've ever wanted." And she told me that the hardest part of everything she'd been going through, was knowing she was going to leave me. I will always be glad that I was there to tell her I loved her that day."

Hermione's eyes began to mist over, as were Ron's, and probably a large part of the attendants. He paused a minute, too choked up to talk.

Then his eyes flashed across the crowd. "You know, obviously, I'm sad that she's gone. I'm going to miss everything about her. Her smile, her laugh, the way that she had a comeback to everything that I had to say. She was never afraid to call me stupid, and then give me a kiss to make me feel better.

"But, even if I had known that she would have been sick and I would be here today, I wouldn't change anything. I have never felt more totally loved by anyone but the woman who's life we are here to celebrate. I hope all of you at some point in your life get to experience what I experienced with Heidi. I doubt I'll ever find it again, and I don't know that I want to. I just hope you all get to have something like that, too."

Quickly, Ron wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve, catching any tears before they could fall in front of the entire crowd. And with large sniff, and cheeks red with embarrassment, Ron exited from the viewing area, eventually leaving the room entirely to be alone. Nobody else rose to talk. Nobody else needed to. They knew that everything had been said that needed to be said.

Hermione noticed the tears streaming down her cheeks, and gratefully accepted the handkerchief that Harry offered her.

_Don't let him forget about me._ There was no need for Heidi's insecurity at that moment. Hermione had never been surer about anything than that Ron Weasley was never going to forget Heidi Maccavoy. And for some reason, for some weeks to come, Hermione couldn't seem to forget about Cedric Diggory.


End file.
